Raising the Dead: 82 GS750E

[witttom]

Dead, and forgotten?

I bought this 1982 Suzuki GS750E earlier this week with the intent of parting it out. I drove an hour to see it. Found that it had not been registered in 20 years. No title, no key, no battery, and the tranny appears to be locked up. It had been sitting in a barn since 1993. The original owner was having the barn torn down, so he gave it to the young lad who sold it to me. It's been sitting outside, wrapped in a tarp for the past couple years. I was not overly impressed with it when I saw it. At lot of the chrome and aluminum is a bit crusty. Because of the locked up tranny, it did not roll. The steering was locked. The front brakes where dragging. It did not look like a fun recovery. But, we settled on a price and I got it loaded up.

I got it home, washed it, and to my horror, knocked off some of the original pin-striping. But under much of that dirt and crud that accumulated over two decades, was a fairly decent bike. It is still not without it's issues, but I immediately started falling in love with.

I used an online mail-order service, and paid to have a key cut from the lock set code. I dropped a crappy battery into it (didn't have one when I got it), and with the turn of the key, the instrument cluster it lit up. Man, it's gorgeous! I've not tried to start it yet, as I think I need to address the tranny and clutch issues first... but this is now a bike that I don't think I want to part out. At least not yet.

So IF I get past the mechanical issues, I'm still facing the challenges of getting a title in Ohio. I've been thinking though... I have a frame and title, from a 1981 GS750 'L'.

My question is.... is the 81L and the 82E frames, the same? If not, what's different?

 

[Steve]

I just spent a minute or so comparing the pictures in the two parts fiche.

The best news is that the gas tanks appear to mount the same way at the back, but the front mounts are different. Most of the differences that I see are at the back of the frame. The '82E has some mounting tabs along the top rear rail, possibly for mounting the tail piece, where the '81L has an exposed chrome fender. The most-major difference is the rear footpeg and muffler mounts. The '81L has steel loops that are welded on to the frame, the '82E has aluminum pieces that bolt to holes in the frame.

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[witttom]

The best news is that the gas tanks appear to mount the same way at the back, but the front mounts are different. Most of the differences that I see are at the back of the frame. The '82E has some mounting tabs along the top rear rail, possibly for mounting the tail piece, where the '81L has an exposed chrome fender. The most-major difference is the rear footpeg and muffler mounts. The '81L has steel loops that are welded on to the frame, the '82E has aluminum pieces that bolt to holes in the frame.

Hmmm... yep. Now that you point those differences out on paper, they become glaringly obvious in person. I have both in my basement, but not side-by-side for comparison (my frame is hanging from the ceiling of my basement workshop, the bike is parked in my wife's exercise area on the other side of the basement). I think they are different enough, that makes that plan something that's not gonna work.